


Insomnia isn't so bad

by madeli_writing



Category: Actually Stephen, DanPlan
Genre: Cuddles, Fluff, Insomnia, Kisses, M/M, Stephen has insomnia, date, hosuh is supportive, hurt comfort, sleepy stephen, very minor though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madeli_writing/pseuds/madeli_writing
Summary: Insomnia was not a fun time. The endless hours of trying to will himself to sleep was slowly etching away at Stephen. He was restless, shivers making their way up his spine as it became 4 am, every bone in his body heavy. He felt tired, but his mind couldn't ease him into at least some semblance of rest.
Relationships: Hosuh Lee/Stephen Ng
Comments: 9
Kudos: 97





	Insomnia isn't so bad

**Author's Note:**

> I needed something positive, so I have been slowly working on this since all the drama started. I hope this cheers you up like it did me.  
> Not beta read

Insomnia was  _ not _ a fun time. The endless hours of trying to will himself to sleep was slowly etching away at Stephen. He was restless, shivers making their way up his spine as it became 4 am, every bone in his body heavy. He felt tired, but his mind couldn't ease him into at least some semblance of rest.

5 am and he made to it that every app on his phone was nicely organized, bullet journaling videos playing on his phone as he shopped through Amazon for good highlighters and bookmarks to start his own journal.

6 am rolled around and Stephen found himself down the hell of YouTube, finding videos on how candy canes are made and finding himself craving something sweet. 

7 am was met by an alert on his phone. The sound of his text tone snapping him out of his mental game of chess, saving him from losing his own queen piece from himself. He grabbed his phone from the side of his bed, thankfully the sun had slowly been coming up and the harsh white of his screen didn't blind him too much. 

**Hos:** Good Morning! Your light in your room is on.

**Me:** yo

**Me:** you're up early

**Hos:** Restless sleeping I guess, what about you? Insomnia?

**Me:** bingo

**Me:** you know me so well, Hos~

**Hos:** I know you're a mess… think you will head to bed any time soon?

**Me:** would have already if I could

**Hos:** Get showered, let's go get breakfast! 

**Me:** hmmm

**Hos:** I'll pay.

**Me:** ;D 

**Hos:** :)

Stephen smiled down at the texts, hearing movement in the house and hearing Hosuh fumble around his room through their thin walls. He set his phone down next to him and took a deep breath in, feeling the chills of sleep deprivation just beneath his skin. Releasing the breath, he willed himself to sit up, reminding himself to eat some red meat later in the day as his head spun from low iron. 

Digging through his drawers he found his clothes for the day, changing his t-shirt out for a long sleeve after checking the weather. He upheld his motto of ripped jeans for any weather before making his way to his bed and sweeping it for a small accessory, grabbing his black earring from the sheets and placing it atop the dresser.

He grabbed the clothes and made his way out of his room, closing the door behind him. He made his way down the hallway to the bathroom, pausing in front of Hosuh's room on his way. He heard faint lo-fi music flow from the door, just barely catching Hosuh's gentle humming. 

Stephen smiled to himself as he took in the sound for a moment, shaking his head a moment before raising his free hand a briskly knocking on Hosuh's door. He chuckled to himself as he heard a faint yelp. At a small "Yeah?" Stephen spoke up,

"I want pancakes!" He laughed and walked off to the bathroom after he heard Hosuh's exasperated sigh and chuckle. He made sure to lock the door behind him as he entered the bathroom, setting his clothes on the counter and starting music on his phone. He hummed to the song as he examined himself in the mirror. He leaned forward, his thighs pressed against the short countertops as he pulled the bags under his eyes. They were growing by the night, but his medication was already too high to up any doses. He stuck his tongue out and made a small face to himself in the mirror, his exhaustion making him look akin to a zombie. Sighing, he leaned back and straightened out. He kept his eyes on himself for a moment, his own opinion unusually critical. 

‘You look fine.’ A voice that sounded a tad too much like Hosuh’s sounded in his mind. He let out a small chuckle at the voice, nodding to himself and shooting a playful finger-gun at his reflection. He kept the small smile on his face as he started the shower up, raising the music to overpower the tapping of the water on the porcelain. He checked to see if his towel was there, and clean, before he stripped down quickly. Stepping in, the water was just the right amount of boiling. He washed up, singing to the music and failing miserably at the high notes, smiling as he heard Hosuh groan loudly in protest. 

He stayed in the shower for another 10 minutes before he heard a small text tone on his phone. He dried his hand as well as possible before unlocking his phone and checking the text. He let out an audible laugh as he read the text over.

**Hos:** You good in there? Should I bring you a porno? :P

He saw that he had been in the shower for 45 minutes and quickly turned the water off, clambering out and drying off. He decided to play along and taste the silver haired male.

**Me:** Are there any porn stars that look like you?

After hearing a yell from the other side of the wall, he let out his own belting laugh. He changed hastily, trying to speed up so Hosuh could take a shower of his own. Stephen snatched a purple toothbrush from a small cup on the counter, throwing some toothpaste on and scrubbing at his teeth, rinsing and checking himself one more time in the mirror, grabbing his towel and trying to dry his hair as much as possible. He kept his towel on his head as he stepped out, shooting a smirk at the bed-headed boy across from him.

“You look like you rubbed a balloon all over your head.” He teased, bringing the towel from his own hair to reveal an equally disheveled mohawk of his own. Hosuh laughed softly, raising his eyebrows along with a small smirk like smile of his own. (Hosuh physically could not smirk, the boy as too soft.) Stephen walked past the silver eye’d boy, ruffling his hand in the other’s hair, laughing as the other yelped about grease or oil or something. Stephen couldn’t hear over his own laughter at Hosuh’s quick retreat and rambles.

He turned to his room and went back in, putting his earrings in and checking his hair in his small mirror. He grabbed his styling paste and ran it through his hair a few times, the mohawk slowly drying and staying in place. He noticed the sides of his hair needed to be shaved again, the soft locks starting to curl downwards from gravity. He put deodorant on and went through his stolen cologne samples collection, picking one he thought he remembered hearing Hosuh say he liked. He spritzed a minimal amount on his neck and rubbed with his wrist. 

He fucked around on his phone as he awaited a knock on his door from Hosuh. A few minutes later he heard humming in the hallway, already reaching for his wallet as he heard a small tap on the door. He opened the door and his eyes widened slightly as he saw Hosuh’s hair braided gently over his shoulder. Immediately he grabbed the hair, doing his best not to pull, and placed the braid behind his back. He ignored Hosuh’s indignant yelp as he did so, nearly shouting,

“That’s the hairdo of death! I refuse!” He stood back as Hosuh burst into laughter at his antics, laughing along with him. He watched as the small braid swayed along as Hosuh’s shoulders shook, taking in the sight of Hosuh tucking a stray strand behind his ear. It was small, and cliche, but Stephen felt his heart skip a beat at the action. Hosuh caught his eyes and flushed a bit, averting his eyes and lowering his laugh to a small chuckle. Stephen quickly brought his hand up to his neck and rubbed nervously, having been caught staring.

The purple haired male recovered quickly and made his way to the front door, throwing a glance behind him as he asked,

“Driving or walking?” Hosuh hummed in thought, shuffling over to the small window beside the door, his eyebrows shooting up as he touched the glass and was startled by the freezing temperature of the surface, along with the small flurries falling from thick clouds. He heard a hum behind him and smiled, turning around and looking up towards the taller man. He laughed at the small cringe on the other’s face. He looked down at his parka, bringing his eyes to Stephen’s thing long sleeved shirt before laughing. 

Stephen jumped as he suddenly felt his hand get crushed in the smaller’s hold, the other forgetting just how strong he was. He felt like his arm was going to rip out of his socket from how hard he was being pulled out of the front door and into the freezing cold. He nearly had whiplash as Hosuh spun him around for a moment, his long legs knocking into each other as he tried to keep up with the smaller. But through it all, he caught onto Hosuh’s contagious laughter, his own laugh overpowering the other’s out of sheer volume. But he always had a loud and… unique laugh, so Hosuh only laughed louder to match him. 

They spun around in their front yard of their apartment, not caring about neighbours being bothered in the early morning, just shoving playfully at the other, keeping a hand on each other throughout every spin and shove, Stephen had his hand in Hosuh’s hair, wrapped an arm around Hosuh’s. The silver eyed man laughed along, his own hand fisted in Stephen’s shirt, the other atop Stephen’s bicep as they rocked back and forth, trying to play fight without actually knocking anyone over. 

Eventually the cold nipping at Stephen’s nose and cheeks dulled, and they wore each other down, the adrenaline from the weather and their impromptu play-fighting having dulled a bit. Stephen let out one last laugh as he ruffled Hosuh’s hair once again, strands falling out of the braid. Hosuh’s hands flew to his hair, grabbing Stephen’s larger hand and prying it out of the silver locks. But instead of just dropping the hand or tossing it, he let go with his left and tried his best to fix his hair with one hand as he intertwined his fingers with Stephens, the ghost of a smile on his lips and mirth in his eyes.

Stephen’s smirk softened to a small smile, his cheeks reddening even more, and he hoped Hosuh couldn’t tell that more than the cold was affecting his flush. After calming their breathing completely, Hosuh began to pull his hand away to go lock their door. The taller felt this and immediately tightened his grip, averting his eyes as he felt the other’s questioning stare. He powered through and walked towards the door with Hosuh in tow, feeling the other’s hand relax in the hold as he realized what Stephen was silently asking for.

After locking the door with one hand, they both turned around and began to walk towards the small shopping center a few blocks down. They walked in relative silence, fingers interlocked tightly and smiles on their faces. Stephen shivered a bit as a particularly strong gust of wind breezed past, digging his free had as deep down as he could into his jean pockets. He thanked the cold for keeping him awake and alert, but he could still feel the tremors wrack his whole body once and awhile. He caught the small worried glances Hosuh was sending his way, but didnt know how to react much besides throwing him a reassuring smile.

The shorter male frowned a tad as he watched another small shiver pass over Stephen. He looked down to their interlocked hands, and while Hosuh had normal palms and fingers, Stephen’s hands were built like a pianists, the slim digits interlocked with his accompanied by an even larger palm. He looked down at the pockets on his parka before deeming both their hands would fit. With a sharp exhale of dedication, he placed their hands into his pocket, immediately feeling the warmth from the close proximity begin to thaw their frozen limbs. 

Stephen thanked Hosuh silently by shifting closer to the older male and giving his hand a squeeze. Hosuh just squeezed back and they continued their walk to the cafe. Hosuh checked his phone for the time and laughed as he felt Stephen lean over to see as well. He raised the phone for him to see, displaying bold  **8:56AM** on the screen. Stephen pulled back, his equivalent of a sheepish smile on his face,

“Yeah, sorry about the long shower, I kinda drifted off… Forgive me?” His usual bravado returned at the end of the sentence, throwing a wink Hosuh’s way. Hosuh put his phone back into his pocket then lifted his hand up, humming to himself, pretending to be debating.

"I don't know… Having to take such a fast shower was  _ devastating  _ to my hair." He pulled his hand from his chin to his braid, cringing as he saw all the loose hairs, he had fixed it up all nice but it was now loose and disheveled.

Stephen gasped, going along with the bit as he stuck his bottom lip out, putting on the best puppy dog eyes he could. 

"Pwetty pwease?" At the childish behavior, Hosuh let out a giggle, tugging playfully at Stephen's hand and bumping shoulders. He flushed a bit as Stephen didn't scoot back, instead keeping their shoulders touching. He smiled as the taller seemed to melt mumbling about warmth. 

"Sorry, I just wanted to walk with you, the drive would have been too fast." He looked sheepish and smiled up at the purple Mohawked male. Stephen just shrugged, his signature smirk back as he looked forward, familiar shops coming into view. 

"No worries, it's payback for the long shower." He paused as Hosuh laughed, glancing over to steal a look at Hosuh's petite side profile. He looked away as he saw the shorter turn to face him. He lowered his voice a bit and squeezed the other's hand,

"I wanted to walk with you too. And uh…" he stole another glance, reddening at the older's wide eyes on him.

"...hold your hand… too." Stephen smacked himself mentally, he was oh so eloquent. the taller stole a final glance, and the only reply he got was a small giggle and another squeeze of his hand. 

Stephen's stomach rumbled quietly as he began to smell the local cafe's coffee and snacks. He picked up the pace of their walk, dragging Hosuh with him as he rushed to get some food. Hosuh laughed along and they began a light jog, Stephen's excitement and hunger taking over full force. 

They only slowed once Stephen nearly barreled into the cafe's doors. The waitress, having seen them there quite often, said nothing of their hands but gave them a small smile. She gestured to a small booth in the back and set some menus in front of them, taking their drink orders and wandering off. 

Hosuh sat across of Stephen, laughing as the younger refused to let go of his hand. They continued to hold hands as they talked, legs brushing against each other under the table. 

"I uninstalled Dota the other day, it was really funny cause almost immediately I wanted to play it." Stephen laughed as Hosuh nodded, his face strangely serious.

"It's so addicting! I'm gonna miss playing it with you though, you're the only one who actually knows how to play I swear." 

"It's cause everyone else gets frustrated when all you do is play support!" Hosuh gasped indignantly,

"Well say goodbye to your buffs, who said I was gonna support you anyway? In the game and out!" The purple hair atop Stephen’s head bounced as he shot his face up, his mouth wide in disbelief, his other hand about to smack onto the table. Before his palm could connect, a small clearing of a throat interrupted them. A new waitress stood there, a small giggle escaping her mouth.

Stephen flushed slightly as he realized people were glancing over. He shied away for a moment as she took their order. However, his uncomfort lessened from the embarrassment as it got redirected to the waitress. As he had told his order, she hadn’t broken eye contact, giggling even though nothing he said had been humorous. He squeezed Hosuh’s hand as she asked for his name. Hosuh squeezed back, having sat back and watched the girl slowly inch towards the taller. He wanted to interrupt, but she had hastily taken his own order before going back to Stephen. 

“I’m Maybel, as I said earlier, can I have your name?” At Stephen’s glance once more to Hosuh, she threw a look at the silver haired male, and their interconnected hands. Stephen caught this, finally having enough but not wanting to cause a scene, he suddenly pulled Hosuh’s hand towards his side of the table. He smirked, giving Hosuh’s hand a peck as he looked the girl in the eye, not seeing how Hosuh flushed bright red in the face and began to sputter. 

“This is my boyfriend and soon to be fiance, Hosuh. And we are on a date, can we please get some space, we were talking about moving in together and adopting 3 kids.” So much for not making a scene, the girl huffed loudly before the other waitress they had before came to sweep her away, whispering angrily for the girl to calm down and get over herself. Stephen laughed, shooting an appreciative smile to the waitress as she threw a sorry behind her back. Stephen felt the hand in his begin to warm up and his laughter grew at how Hosuh’s mouth was opening and closing, inable to form words. 

Moments passed and they both calmed down, the older throwing out how they already live together, and Stephen making jokes about how the next logical step was obviously adopting 3 children. As they both settled down, Hosuh looked to the larger hand in his for the millionth time that day, separating their fingers enough to where he could run his thumb across the younger’s knuckles, taking in his soft skin. 

“It is a shame though, you uninstalling DOTA and all.” At Stephen’s curious gaze, he continued.

“It’s always been our thing, even when we first met. I guess it’s just one less talking point.” He didn’t realize he was looking down until he had to lift his head to the touch he left on his hand. Stephen had wrapped both his hands around Hosuh’s smaller one, his pale hand completely overshadowed by slightly tanner ones. He brought his eyes to his boyfriend’s, stunned by the sheer amount of adoration that were behind his purple eyes. He flushed as the attention was turned towards him, not used to this soft side of the other quite yet. 

“Hos, you said it. It’s one less thing to talk about.” At the shorter’s obvious confusion, Stephen chuckled, bringing his hand up to his face and leaving a kiss on the top of his hand again, however this time, he got to see how Hosuh erupted into bright scarlet. He smirked, Stephen didn’t show affection often so this was probably a lot for the poor guy across from him. Taking Hosuh’s hand away from his mouth, he played with the fingers as he spoke,

“But when has Dota been our only thing to talk about?” He paused and smiled gently at the other’s head shake.

“I’m not gonna leave just because I uninstalled a game, it wasn’t my only defining feature was it?” His signature smirk snuck its way back onto his lips as Hosuh shook his head no again, catching the small hesitance. He straightened his back, bringing one of his hands from Hosuh’s to his chest, feigning hurt,

“Could it be, you only liked me ‘cause I was a tanker?” A laugh made its way through his lips as Hosuh squawked. They both laughed, Hosuh relaxing again as he was reassured that Dota or not, Stephen was still Stephen. 

They chatted idly as they waited for their food to arrive, but as more people entered the cafe, an all too familiar headache made its way creeping along Stephen’s skull. The pain was mild, but as he relaxed, he found himself getting shivers from time to time. They slowly got more powerful as time went on, proceeding to cause that headache to multiply. The waitress handed their food to them and Stephen barely managed a thank you out. He could hear Hosuh shifting in his chair as he grimaced, bringing a hand up to his temples and rubbing. The other one, still tightly clutched in the other’s, began to shake as he tried to will the pain away. 

“Hey, Stephen.” He heard some rustling before a small packet of ibuprofen was sat in front of him. He gratefully took it, using his teeth to puncture the pills before taking a swig of water. Downing the pills, he gave a thankful squeeze of the other’s hand. Hosuh squeezed back, looking at his waffle and humming, fork in his free hand He couldn’t eat with one hand… but that was quitter’s talk. He stuck his tongue out and used his fork as a knife, trying to separate the fluffy food into bite size pieces. But to no avail, all he did was squish the poor thing. 

Laughing, Stephen watched as Hosuh gave up and brought his hand down in defeat. At Stephen’s snicker, the older puffed his cheeks out, looking with determination at his breakfast. He stabbed the middle of the waffle, lifted it up whole, and bit off the side of the floppy waffle. Snickers turned into full blown cackles as Stephen watched him chew triumphantly. Hearing his laugh, Hosuh let out a small relieved smile of his own. 

Hosuh placed his waffle back onto his plate, wondering how he was going to eat it like a normal person. Seeing his inner turmoil, the taller hesitantly let go of his boyfriend’s hand. Hosuh pouted the smallest amount before hooking their ankles together under the table. He let out a bashful smile and Stephen returned it with a smirk of his own. 

They went about eating and kept up small talk. Stephen’s chills were still prominent, but the headache subsided enough for him to be able to function. They quickly paid and left, their hand’s connecting as soon as they stood up. They ignored the faces of the other patrons, instead choosing to just focus on eachother. 

They were talking about childhood stories, Stephen showing off his scar on his finger from when Gavin nearly cut the damn thing off with scissors. Hosuh was laughing as he looked at the scar, the mark still there all these years later, as Stephen let out his first yawn of the day, his eyes going wide as he realized how tired he was. Hosuh’s eyes lit up as he realized his boyfriend was drowsy, his movements becoming more sluggish as they neared the house. Stephen was amused by Hosuh’s excitement, a smirk on his face as they made their way up to their front door.

Hosuh unlocked it before turning to Stephen, smiling softly as he caught the tail end of a yawn the other tried to hide. 

"Go to bed, rest up please." 

"Yeah yeah." Stephen huffed, taking his shoes off as he replied. He watched as Hosuh took his own off, and as the other turned to walk further into the house, Stephen crept up behind him. He snuck his arms around Hosuh's waist, pulling the other close. He let out a small chuckle as he heard the other Yelp. He leaned down and left a small kiss on the shell of Hosuh's ear, a smirk on his face as he watched the other's face turn red.

"You need to sleep!" Hosuh protested, yet he leaned back into the taller's arms the slightest bit. Stephen tightened his grip on the smaller, turning them around so that Stephen was walking backwards towards his room.

"Join me." He said more-so than asked. He smiled as he realized the other was letting him do what he wanted, knowing fully well that Hosuh could throw him off at any moment, small yet powerful. Hosuh let out a small sigh, his smile exasperated. 

"Sure, but we have to actually sleep." Stephen pouted a bit, but his protest died on his tongue as another yawn made it's way out of his mouth. 

"Fine." He smiled, his back hitting his door as he continued to drag Hosuh around the house. The other laughed as he was led backwards, feeling as Stephen made contact with the bed. They both climbed onto the plush mattress, making sure the lights were off and curtains closed. Their jackets were dropped onto the floor as they got comfortable. Hosuh's back was still to Stephen, and the taller didn't seem to like that. He nudged for the other to roll over, and with another little sigh, he rolled over. 

They tangled their legs together, Stephen taking Hosuh's face in his hands and placing a small kiss on the smaller's forehead. Hosuh reciprocated, leaving small kisses all over Stephen's jaw and cheeks. They let their hands roam, innocent and comforting (Hosuh making sure that no hands went anywhere near his ass) Hosuh snuggled closer as Stephen's arm wrapped around his waist, placing his hands on Stephen's chest and breathing in, chuckling softly to himself.

"You wore the cologne I like didn't you?" And the smirk he caught on Stephen's face answered his question. Letting one last laugh out, he kissed the corner of his mouth. Stephen's breathing slowed, his eyelids dropping softly as he dipped down, connecting their lips fully. Hosuh smiled and relaxed into the kiss, both of them languid and comfortable. After sharing soft kisses for a few minutes, Hosuh pulled away, burying his face into Stephen's neck. Stephen's grip on his waist tightened for a moment, giving a small squeeze before whispering,

"Thank you." Hosuh heard the other's breathing even out a moment later and smiled.

"Night."

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed


End file.
